Monday, July 8, 2013

Anderson Silva loses title, not respect

Saturday night Anderson Silva, aka Spider, lost his title to challenger Chris Weidman. Did he really lose, or did he quit on himself? That question is up for debate considering Silva seemed to be toying with Weidman for much of the match, despite not lasting that long. Weidman knocked Silva down with a shot to the chin and pounced on him immediately. Within seconds of Weidman taking advantage of the knockdown, referee Herb Dean had no choice but to call the match. Prior to the loss on Saturday, the UFC has seen the same Champion since October of 2006, a few months shy of seven years to the day. The UFC has never seen a fighter quite like Silva, most notably in regards to a title reign. The problem most have with how this particular fight went was with how Silva conducted himself. He did an awful lot of taunting for a guy that was KO'd early in the second round. It was almost as if he wanted to lose. So did he? Could he have been trying to rope Weidman into a striking bout? I believe he wanted to lose intentionally. Anderson Silva is 38 years old, has held the title for seven years, and is ready to hang it up. He thought it was time to pass along the torch to the future of UFC, Weidman (28). Was it the way he should have went out, probably not. Am I right about him hanging it up? Maybe not, but it makes perfect sense. What else does he have to accomplish? Nothing. There is also the side that might just say he really was toying and taunting with Weidman. It wouldn't be the first time Silva acted this way during a fight. Back at UFC 110 Silva acted the same way towards Demian Maia. You could argue that he can now focus on participating in marquee matchups, GSP, but St. Pierre already said that he does not want to fight Silva. There is no other reasonable explanation for why he stood with his hands by his side for 80% of the fight than he just straight up wanted to lose the title. And to be honest, he couldn't have lost the title to a more fitting opponent. Weidman won't be a title holder for the longevity that Silva had it, but he will certainly have a few successful title defenses. Speaking of title defenses, at least we know he won't have to worry about a rematch with Silva. Silva said in a post fight interview that he has no intentions of having a championship rematch. Who, who doesn't have plans on retiring says they wouldn't want to go after the title? If he doesn't retire I will be the first to be surprised, but I will also be the first to say I was wrong if he doesn't retire. It may not come tomorrow or next month, but I foresee it happening within the year. After the fight UFC president Dana White responded to the social media trends of the fight being fixed by saying that the accusations were the "stupidest [expletive] thing" he has ever heard in his life. And he also went on to question how someone can be disrespectful in a fight. That's a valid point, and he is right. So what would have happened if Silva was giving it his all. I would like to think it would have been the opposite result. I don't know what would have happened if Silva had taken this fight seriously, but one thing I do know is that St. Pierre, Rashad Evans and Joe Rogan all said that the next champion would be Chris Weidman. Rogan himself said that Weidman is pound for pound the best UFC fighter. Source:http://cmgaliszewski.blogspot.com/2013/07/anderson-silva-loses-title-not-respect.html